Security Tips

DON’T BE A VICTIM

Consider these 50 simple security ideas courtesy of Force One Security:

1.        Survey the street and parking lot when walking from a restaurant or business to your car to search for loiterers. Avoid confrontation.

2.        Use your car alarm or horn panic button, sound the car alarm when you are walking out to your car to draw attention to yourself. No thief is going to rob or attack you if the whole parking lot is looking at you.

3.        When leaving an establishment, look for persons of suspicious nature and do something as simple as waiting on the person to leave, or ask someone to assist you to your car.

4.        Don’t leave an ATM machine with money in your hand; instead have Mace, pepper spray or a Taser. Pepper spray or personal protection tools are worthless in the bottom of your purse or pocket.  

5.        When you leave the ATM machine make sure no one follows you home. 

6.        Use your camera, camcorder or cell phone to take pictures of cars, license plates, loiterers and suspicious persons outside your home. Let them see you take their pictures and return to your home.

7.        Don’t advertise on Facebook you are going on a two week vacation. I have been to countless meeting where “friends” were determined to be thieves.

8.        Don’t have a taxi pick you up in front of your home, walk down the street to a different house or empty lot so the taxi driver does not know where you live.   

9.        Taxi drivers buy stolen goods from the local thieves. When the taxi drivers know your house is empty, they dispatch the thieves, pick up the thieves and purchase your personal effects from them.

10.     Don’t throw away your old computer, cell phone or camera; leave them out in the living room as decoys.

11.     Don’t leave your front porch light on 24/7, that is an old trick and it advertises that no one is home.

12.     Don’t throw your plasma TV box or new microwave box out at the street, cut it up or burn it.

13.     Don’t invite contractors, vendors and service providers in your home unless absolutely necessary. Leave them outside your front door.

14.     Never allow an unknown driver of a car on the street to call you to his car on the pretense of directions. Stay 10’ or 15’ away or ignore them completely.

15.     Don’t pick up hitchhikers, or if you do, be prepared to defend yourself against robbery, threats or false accusations.

16.     Contractors and their employees steal, it is that simple. Start a simple visitor log book at your front door and force all contractors and their employees to produce their name, Cedula and phone number. Inform them it is for your home security purposes, you make the entries in the log, you verify the information. Write down the information and date it. In the event you are robbed or burglarized, you will very likely have the contact information for your thief.

17.     When contractors are left unsupervised anywhere in your home or business, upon their departure inspect all of your security measures. Make sure your locks are secured, your burglar bars are bolted in place, and your alarm system contacts have not been removed. Look for signs of tampering behind contractors, better safe than sorry.

18.     Bolt your safe through the slab or wall and don’t use short concrete anchors, the thieves will tear the safe out of the floor or wall.

19.     Thieves expect upstairs doors and windows to be open and unlocked, lock them.

20.     Chain and lock your ladder so it cannot be used to burglarize your own home.

21.     Sleep with your keys beside your bed, not somewhere in your kitchen or living room.

22.     An extended swimming pool pole gives a thief a 15’ long reach into your house to hook your keys, your camera, your purse, your jewelry or anything laying around 15’ from a window.

23.     A loud TV left on in the house creates question in a thief’s mind, and is a very good deterrent.

24.     Thieves hate loud dogs and nosey neighbors.

25.     Close your blinds and curtains (especially at night), thieves will study the contents of your home and your living pattern, then they will enter your home while you are home and even while you are awake.

26.        Be very suspicious of someone randomly knocking on your door looking for someone you have never heard of, he or she is almost certainly checking to see if you are home intending to burglarize your home.

27.        Wasp spray that shoots a stream 15’ to 20’ and is almost as good as Mace when you hit a person in the face with this product. Scatter cans of wasp spray around your house for personal protection.

28.        If you hear a suspicious noise in your yard or property, push your car alarm panic button or your alarm system panic button.

29.        Never try to sneak up on a thief, do everything possible to scare him and drive him away.

30.        Keep your wallet in your front pocket. Pick pockets are incredibly talented.

31.        Wear your shoulder bag over your head and under your arm keeping it in front of you when possible.

32.        Never leave valuables in your car.

33.        If you experience a flat tire, remove your spare tire and tools from your car, reload and lock your car while you change your tire. Be careful not to be distracted by someone offering to help while simultaneously being robbed by his or her companion. This is a common roadside trick practiced by both genders.

34.        Standing at roadside with a suitcase, purse and camera is an invitation to a robber.

35.     Be careful, your beautiful landscaping, plants and bushes provide nice hiding places for burglars.

36.     Always park in well lit, high profile areas or search for alternatives.

37.     If your cell phone has audio recording, consider discretely activating it to record conversations with roadside police.

38.     Don’t install your new flat screen TV in eye sight of the street unless you wish to lose it.

39.     Take pictures or video in every room of your house, your closet, your drawers, clothes, etc. Upload these pictures to your email or send them to a friend for safe keeping to serve as an inventory of your home.

40.     Today, take every credit card, every photo ID and other important contents of your wallet/purse, place them side by side on your photo copier and copy them front side and backside. File these photo copies in case you are robbed or lose them.

41.     Solar and motion activated yard lighting will drive a great deal of burglars away.

42.     Purchase 4-5 simple plug-in timers that can be used to turn on and off the TV and certain lights.

43.     Even the simplest security sign suggests your home might not be an easy target.

44.     Thieves can afford to be well groomed and dress nice and can easily sport a briefcase or clipboard in an effort to gain your confidence.

45.     Leaving your items unattended at even 10’ or 15’ away can invite a fleet footed robber’s attention.

46.     Place your purse or valuables on the floorboard of your car, under your legs or under your seat when driving and lock your doors. Windows are easily shattered and the surprise provides the street criminal the 2-3 second advantage he needs to snatch and run with your valuables. It happens before you know it.

47.     Never leave anything of value lying around your house when you have caretakers, vendors and contractors in your home.

48.     Never carry your Passport, only a photo copy and a copy of the date stamp. Lock away your Passport.  

49.     Never leave your home without watching your automatic garage door or gate close completely.

50.     Never leave notes on your door for neighbors or service providers, it’s a sure indication you are not home.